03.02. The Divine Call (4-15)
THE DIVINE CALL (Psalms 50:4-15)
TEXT He shall call to the heavens above, and to the earth, that he may judge his people.
Gather my saints together unto me; those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice. And the heavens shall declare his righteousness: for God is judge himself. Selah.
Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, and I will testify against thee: I am God, even thy God.
I will not reprove thee for thy sacrifices or thy burnt offerings, to have been continually before me.
I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor he goats out of thy folds. For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills.
I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine.
If I were hungry, I would not tell thee: for the world is mine, and the fullness thereof. Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?
Offer unto God thanksgiving; and pay thy vows unto the most High: And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me. The Call To The Heavens And The Earth (Psalms 50:4-6)
"He shall call to the heavens...that he may judge his people." The purpose of His Appearance as being for Judgement is now shown. Fire and the Call to the heaven and the earth (as in Psalms 50:3-4) are also juxtaposed in Deuteronomy 4:24-26, where Moses is warning the Israelites against the consequences of forgetting the covenant of the Lord. The Call there is a call by Moses to witness concerning the factuality of the warning. Craigie considers this call (Ps.50) also as a summons to the heavens and the earth to be the silent witnesses to the Judgement event. The Call must not be read apart from the Call to gather the saints (Psalms 50:5) and the appointment of the heavens to declare His righteousness (Psalms 50:6). Assuredly, the covenant relationship is, here, brought to view. The saints, who have been true to the covenant, need not fear any longer: the God of the covenant has come and the promise of the covenant will be kept. The people are His. The relationship between Him and His people is well portrayed through the words "my saints" (Psalms 50:5), "my people" (Psalms 50:7), "thy God" (Psalms 50:7), and "those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice" (Psalms 50:5). The addressive words of the Call are reminiscent of the words the Lord spoke at the making of the Mosaic Covenant (Exodus 19:4-6). The Theophany, there, was for the establishment of the Covenant. The Theophany, here, is for the explanation of what that covenant really meant: its meaning, its gravity, and its significance.
"Gather my saints...those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice." Craigie opts the word "devotee" for "saints" and considers it as designating specifically those who were committed to God in the relationship of covenant. They are, of course, His saints -- His holy ones. This points out to atleast three characteristics of this people group:
1. Distinction. They were separated from all other peoples of the world by His Sovereign choice. They were now distinct(1 Kings 8:51). The word hagios, Greek for "saints" and "holy", has also been translated as "distinct", "different", and "separate" by scholars.
2. Possession. They were His, His peculiar treasure above all people (Exodus 19:5). The word "peculiar" is important as it distinguishes them from all other of His possessions -- "for all the earth is mine"(Exodus 19:5), but the Israelites are His peculiar treasure.
3. Consecration. They were His saints. In Exodus 19:6, He calls them "a kingdom of priests, and an holy nation"(emphasis mine) unto Him. They were His "holy people", His "special people", and His chosen people not because of their own quality or quantity, but because of His own love and faithfulness (Deuteronomy 7:6-9).
Craigie prefers the version "those about to make a covenant with me..." to "those that have made a covenant with me..." and considers it to be critical to the understanding of the text as a whole. He thinks that treatment of the verb in the text as belonging to the past tense by the RSV, NIV, NEB, et al., is but a failure to recognize the force of the k-d-t-y. He comments:
’In this context, the participle functions as the "the participle of the immediate future," as is commonly the case in covenant contexts.... Thus the covenant members are summoned by God; later in the day, they will be making, or renewing, the covenant, but first they must go through the searching preparatory ritual of divine scrutiny, to ensure that they are ready for the ceremony itself, in which the covenant "sacrifice" (Psalms 50:5-6) would be offered.’ The call to an introspection of self-motives is, of course, a motif throughout the Psalm. Yet, if the translation preferred by Craigie is agreed with, then the timing of the Theophany may even be supposed to be that of the Sinai-event now reproduced in a festive drama (the like genre of the Book of The Songs Of Solomon). This interpretation, however, doesn’t align with the situation presupposed by the Psalm itself. The context of the Psalm presupposes that the covenant had already been made in the past; now, there are some who are loyal to it while the others are not. In addition, it seems inappropriate to interpret "those about to make a covenant with me"(italics mine) as "those about to renew their covenant with me." The mention of the Covenant by sacrifice is surely a reference to the sacrifices and the sprinkling of the blood at the initiation of the Mosaic Covenant (Exodus 24:3-11). The Covenant was, without doubts, a Covenant of blood. And the people had, then, agreed with one accord: "All the words which the LORD hath said will we do." It was time now to investigate whether they had been faithful to the Covenant. Sten Nilson illustrates that the act of covenant-making, among the Hebrews, demonstrated two things:
1. Death to self and renunciation of right to self, and
2. That the two (between whom the covenant was made) have begun a walk together that will last until they are separated by death. They are friends forever. The hazard of breaking the covenant was death itself. Nilson writes:
’...the two point to the bloody animal cut in two and say, "May God strike me thus if I should ever break this covenant. May I be cut in two and be eaten by vultures if I break this holy covenant."’
There is every reason to suppose that Psalms 50:22, where God speaks of tearing into pieces the forgetters of God or, more specifically, the forgetters of the covenant, is in reference to this basic ingredient of the Covenant-stipulations. The Covenant by blood repudiates half-hearted service. It is a Covenant of life and demands total affection and total sacrificial service by each of the members of the covenant. Hadn’t God loved them with His whole heart (Deuteronomy 7:7-8)? His love is called an "everlasting love" (Jeremiah 31:3), that is, it is infinite and unlimited by either time or space. He also served them with His whole heart (Jer. 63.9; Exodus 19:4). He rejoices to act for the good of His people and does that with His whole heart (Jeremiah 32:41). He is a faithful God and desires His worshippers also to worship Him in spirit and in truth (John 4:24). He, therefore, calls His saints to gather together at His presence for the exposition of their hearts -- their thoughts, desires, and intentions -- and to instruct them concerning the kind of service that He expects from them. The reference to the heavens as the witnesses of His righteousness, in the next verse, seems to indicate that the direct speech in Psalms 50:5 is addressed to the earth itself. He has called the earth from the rising of the sun to the going down thereof to gather His saints together unto Him. The interpretation in that manner, however, is not necessitated if a comma is supposed before and after the expression "my saints". The addressee, then, would be the saints themselves. Craigie supposes that the people themselves are summoned to gather together in God’s presence, in the words of an oracular pronouncement. But the syntax, as the NIV, the RSV, and the Amplified Version also indicate, doesn’t support the supposition proving that the addressee is the earth itself. The earth, the habitat of men, is summoned, poetically speaking, to assemble the saints together; and the heavens, as in Psalms 19:1, are summoned to declare His righteousness. Both are His witnesses.
"And the heavens shall declare his righteousness...." The sudden shift from a direct speech to an informatory statement almost suggests a choral arrangement. The words "shall declare" is an Hiphil Imperfect conjugation, which is an active causative of the Qal. The implication is that the declaration of His righteousness is caused by the heavens themselves. Any act of God is of universal significance. The imperfect tense of it implies that the action is still in effect. The Amplified Version interprets it: "And the heavens declare His righteousness -- rightness and justice...." The Poetic nature of the expression can also suggest a principle of investigation: when observed from a planer(terrestrial) point of view, the works of men are righteous to their ownselves which, inevitably, gives rise to rationalizations and self-justificatory arguments. But when viewed from the heavenly perspective with a comprehensive legal outlook, the vileness of man is revealed proving the righteousness of God (cf. Psalms 51:4). The earthly perspective is surely a biased perspective; the heavenly, as an external witness, a biasless one. Atleast four characteristics of this witness can easily be observed:
1. Externality. The heavens are an external witness. The heavens are neither the Judge nor the judged.
2. Eternality. In the sense that they were present from the very beginning of the creation and that their expanse is uncomprehended by man. This suggests universality, both in time and space, of its witness.
3. Unity. The heavens are one.
4. Immutability. Their being immutable since the creation of the universe (not immutable in the sense that we move in space-time, but by its very nature of being a continuum) strengthens the quality of their witness. The witness is an unquestionable witness of His righteousness and justice. "...for God is judge himself. Selah." The italicised "is" is not in the original. The Amplified Version interprets the clause: "...for God, He is judge. Selah [pause, and calmly think of that]!" That God is Judge means that there is no escape. This is not an earthy judge, limited in resources, ability, extent, and power. He is the omniscient, omnipotent, and omnipresent Lord of the universe and the heavens themselves bear witness of His righteousness: For God is Judge Himself. Selah. It is a matter not just to be thought about, but one that demands a proper and immediate response. The Call To The People Of His Covenant To Realisation (Psalms 50:7-13) The section opens with the words: "Hear, O my people...O Israel...I am God, even thy God." This is reminiscent of the Shema in Deuteronomy 6:4 : "Hear, O Israel: The LORD our God is one LORD...." The call is followed by a call to love the LORD with the whole being (Psalms 50:5). Worship cannot begin without the realisation of who our God is. He is God, the God of Israel. He is one. Thus, worship cannot be pluralistical -- i.e., the object of our worship is our God alone ("with all thy heart, and with all thy soul, and with all thy might"). Craigie considers the summons to "hear" as implying also "obey". He goes on to add that "I am God thy God" (Psalms 5:7 c) is the equivalent, in the Elohistic Psalter, to the more familiar "I am the Lord (Yahweh), your God." "I will speak...." The verb is a Piel conjugative imperfect and implies that the speech will be very intense, thorough, and complete. When the Lord of the hosts speaks who can but listen? "...and I will testify against thee...." Delitzsch shows that "the forms strengthened by ah, in Psalms 50:7, describe God’s earnest desire to have Israel for willing hearers as being quite as strong as His desire to speak and to bear witness." The Mighty God YHWH has called, has shone, has come, and now He commands to pay Him attention: who can dare but listen to this weightiest and the gravest of all speeches ever heard or ever to be heard by human ears?
"I will not reprove thee...." This section is neither meant to be an accusation nor a chiding as is the section that deals with the warning to the wicked (i.e., Psalms 50:16-22; cf. Psalms 50:22 : "I will reprove thee"). The word for "reprove" (Psalms 50:7), in the Hebrew, is the word Ya Khach which means "to dispute with someone, argue; to be convicted, reproved; to decide, judge; to prove; to rebuke, correct; to meditate, arbitrate; to punish; to chide." It is the same word used in Isaiah 1:18, where the KJV interprets it as "reason". "...for thy sacrifices or thy burnt offerings, to have been continually before me." The Hindi version joins "for thy sacrifices" with "I will not reprove thee" and without interposings of "or" before and the comma after "thy burnt offerings" joins it to "continually before me" with an "are". The English version of the Hindi would read: "I do not condemn you for your peace offerings, your burnt offerings are continually offered to me." God is not disregarding the sacrifices of His people; He only desires to show them something more significant than these -- the true meaning of worship, of sacrifices. Craigie observes:
"The essence of the divine speech concerns the meaning and purpose of sacrifices, and it was vital that the people have the meaning clear in their minds before the actual sacrifices were offered later in the day."
He means that since the occasion of the recital of the Psalm would be at sunrise during the feast of tabernacles and the people would be offering sacrifices and burnt offerings later in the day, it was necessary that they understand what those sacrifices really meant.
"I will take no bullock out of thy house, nor he goats out of thy folds." The reference seems to be for the purpose of burnt offerings; since that was the offering in which either a bull or an he goat/ male sheep or turtledoves/ young pigeons were required for offering. The peace offering, on the other hand, being a freewill offering did not require that the offering be a male alone. A female goat in the sin offering was admitted if the offerer was poor while in the tresspass offering a ram was required along with a restitution fee. The purpose of the burnt offering was for the propitiation of sin in general (Leviticus 1:4) and the signifying of one’s total commitment, dedication, and consecration to God. The bullock or he goat (excepting its skin) was entirely burnt on the altar of offering. Here, God says that He wouldn’t take either of them: the reason He gives in the next verse.
"For every beast of the forest is mine, and the cattle upon a thousand hills." The Amplified Version suggests that the phrase "the cattle upon a thousand hills" can also be translated as "upon the mountains where thousands are." The idea is that God is the sole Owner of all living creatures. The implication seems to be that He doesn’t need to strive with them to get them to submit to His will; but with man He strives (cf. Genesis 6:3)and is provoked by their rebellious nature (Exodus 23:21; Numbers 14:11; Psalms 78:40; Jeremiah 4:8). God is Sovereign but He doesn’t deny the freewill of man. Sin is a freewilled rebellion against the Will of God. That is the reason why when two or three kinds of offerings were to be offered the sin offering usually was the first of the sequence. Then came the burnt and the peace offerings. Reconciliation and propitiation, without which any positive relationship is made void, must precede dedication. "I know all the fowls of the mountains: and the wild beasts of the field are mine." The knowledge is unlike that of man: it is deeper, complete, full, and perfect {"I know and am aquainted with...," (Amplified)}. God is Omniscient. "...are mine" can also be translated as "are with me." God is Omnipresent. Thus it is shown that the idea that God requires a material gift from us is absurd and preposterous. He is the Ruler, Possessor, Knower, and Sustainer of all things. Is He in need then of anything?
"If I were hungry, I would not tell thee; for the world is mine, and the fullness thereof." Obviously, God doesn’t get hungry: He is Infinite, non-contingent, Absolute, and a Spirit -- that is, He transcends the limitations of this finite space-time continuum. But the Psalm is not a philosophical treatise. It doesn’t, however, shun to display the fallacy of their reasonings. The implication seems to be that even if the people reasoned that the offering was to satiate the hunger of God, they would still be committing a fallacy. For to call Him God, The Almighty YHWH and to posit that He needed to be sustained by their offerings at the same time would be erroneous. What makes Him Almighty then, if He couldn’t make provision for Himself or if there is something over which He cannot exercise His might and so must depend on others to satiate His needs? But the question is: Is He really in want of the flesh and blood of these animals?
"Will I eat the flesh of bulls, or drink the blood of goats?" The question is a rhetoric one. The answer, obviously, is "No." God is Self-Sufficient in Himself. Daniel Cresswall rightly observes that the pagan sacrifices were considered as feasts of the gods. The pagan religions surrounding the Israelites often tempted them to regard their own religion as something similar to them. But the purpose of sacrifice in Judaism was completely different from the purposes of them in the pagan religions. Hinson writes about these fallacious thinkers of Judaism as follows:
"Continually they were tempted to follow the pattern of other religions, and to suppose that what the LORD chiefly required from his people was worship and sacrifice. They found it difficult to understand that even though they took part in the sacrifices and feast days, the LORD was not necessarily satisfied with their service." The purpose of the sacrifices which God instituted was not for the fulfilment of God’s needs but for the fulfilment of the people’s needs. The significance of the sacrifices was tied to relationship these people had with God through the Covenant ("by sacrifice"). The effect of the sacrifices was nullified without the existence of the covenant. Hinson writes:
"The first thing we must remember is that Salvation depends on God, and not on man, so it is achieved through His Covenants, rather than through sacrifices. The ritual of sacrifice may be a way for the covenant people to approach God. But their relationship with God is established in the first place by a covenant, not by an act of sacrifice." The sacrifices were meant for three purposes:
1. The Atonement of sins -- e.g. the sin offering, the guilt offering, and the annual Day of Atonement. These were unacceptable without an accompaniment of confession and restitution (Numbers 5:7).
2. Thanksgivings for His goodness -- especially, the thank-offerings (Leviticus 7:12) and the burnt offerings (Leviticus 1:10-13).
3. Fellowship with God -- e.g. the peace offering (Leviticus 3:1-5), which expressed peace (fellowship) with God and so culminated in a community meal.
These external sacrifices were meant to be significations of internal givings to and relationship with God. They were not meant to be mere one-time events but were meant to signify a whole life relationship with God. What the offerer did at that one moment of sacrifice was meant to signify what he was going to do for the rest of his life. They were reflections of the decision that one was really going to love the LORD his God with all his heart, and with all his soul, and with all his might. Which meant that he was going to do only that which would please his God, without which all his sacrifices were meaningless. For obedience is better than sacrifice (1 Samuel 15:22). The Psalm indicates that the hypocrites (dealt with in the next main division) had none of the motives listed above. The Call To True Worship (Psalms 50:14-15) This section is a Call to the saints to action, to do that which their God really desired from them: this is a Call to true worship. Four actions are called for, here, as imperative:
1. Thanksgiving. "Offer unto God thanksgiving...." Thanksgiving is the offering which God desires. For, factually speaking, man can offer nothing else: all belongs to Him. Gratitude towards God is also an expression of a total and joyful acceptance of whatever He gives us and the humility to accept the fact that it is His doing and it is marvellous in our sight. The religion of pride refuses to accept any gift of God’s grace. The Israelites, however, ought never to forget the fact that the Covenant relationship into which they have entered is but a relationship through grace. The Covenant was a Covenant of grace.
2. Cheerful Giving. "And pay thy vows unto the most High." The language and the command of this Shema is very reminiscent of the Shema in Deuteronomy 6:1-25. Deuteronomy 6:13 says:
"Thou shalt fear the LORD thy God, and serve him, and shalt swear by his name." The Call was to total reverence and total allegiance to Him alone. The word "pay" is a Piel imperative conjugation, which implies that the act is to be thorough and complete. The payment of the vow is to be cheerfully done because what has been received was thankfully received out of His bounty.
3. Prayer. "And call upon me in the day of trouble: I will deliver thee...." The Israelites must not remember the fact that their existence was solely because God chose them to be His own peculiar people and so had delivered them and sustained them through the years. A pride in their own ability and strength would only later confuse them. The assurance of the answer to prayer is made evident by the use of "will" instead of "may". God will surely answer the call of those who trust and wait patiently on Him.
4. Praise. "and thou shalt glorify me." The word "glorify" is a Piel imperfect conjugation. The idea is that he act of glorifying God wasn’t meant to be momentary but was meant to be continuing throughout life. In other words, the delivered one becomes a living testimony of God.
True worship is not possible other than these. A person who is neither thankful, nor owes his allegiance to God, nor prays to God, nor glorifies God in his life cannot serve Him. He cannot worship him in spirit and in truth.
CONCLUSION The instruction of this section is marvellous. The heathen could not comprehend this. And the saints of God should not forget it. The Covenant was what made this relationship with the Almighty possible. God desired an intensification of this relationship which could only be made possible by, first, a realisation of who this God of the Covenant was. He is Sovereign., Omniscient, Omnipotent, and Self-Sufficient; therefore, He was never in need of their sacrifices. What was it that made Him institute the laws of the sacrifices? Wasn’t it not the will to maintain and deepen the Covenant relationship? The sacrifices were only meant to signify how this relationship was maintained. The Call is to worship the Lord in spirit and in truth. The motives must be right and must accord with the revelation of God. A life of thankfulness, cheerful giving, prayer, and glorifying of His Name is what God calls forth for. Thus the relationship is deepened. God, it must be noted, is concerned with the individual and not just the masses. He is a God of care. He is a God of relationship. And true worship is what builds this relationship up. A thankless, grumbling, murmuring, and prayerless life cannot glorify God. Worship and service to God becomes impossible for such kind of a person. And his relationship with God before long comes to an end. The bullocks and the goats were not what God required from His holy ones: it was their heart that He desired to be offered up to him. Wasn’t that what the burnt offering signified? Note, God doesn’t reprove them for their sacrifices. He is not rejecting them. He only wants to tell His people that the person was more significant than his gifts. In fact, God had no use of those offerings except that they expressed a heart of thankfulness, dedication, trust, and adoration towards Him. He is forever ready to accept to these gifts of theirs and answer their prayers to Him. So that His saints would glorify Him and continue to be a living testimony of His love in this world of pain and hopelessness.